The Three Dense Musketeers
by Misery Speaks
Summary: Are they dense or just in denial? A new team arises in Konoha, Team 13 *how lucky!* , and they must get over their differences to form a lasting partnership. Just like the three musketeers, Meimei, Karu, and Takeshi will rise above all! *We hope*
1. And a Partnership is Born Sorta

_Ah...welcome to my first attempt of writing fanfiction. I'm Misery, and I'd like to say that I will very appreciate any constructive (or not) critism, or advise you have. I wonder if following the Naruto plot with your own team is overrated...forgive me if it is. I would like to see myself follow through to the end of this story. _

_So with that in mind, enjoy the first chapter!_

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO, ONLY MY OCs. **

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The chirps of sparrows welcomed yet another morning in the village of Konoha. The streets were quiet and rid of young academy children--they were all in the Academy, awaiting their team assignments.

All, except for one.

"Gah!" Meimei Natsuro shouted as she thundered down the streets, her arms moving furiously and her black ponytail flying out behind her. Her lavender short-sleeved hoodie was crooked, her gray shorts wrinkled. She didn't even have time to secure her hitai-ate around her head, and could only grasp it in her hands as she ran for her dear life.

_Stupid alarm clock! Who the hell ever invented those? I would do better with a damn chicken!_ Meimei thought furiously, gritting her teeth. She took a shortcut through the woods, and burst out and through the Academy doors.

By the time she reached her classroom on the third floor, Ritsu-sensei was done with the team assignments. Meimei gulped, skidding to a halt at the door. Ritsu glared at her with his sharp blue eyes. "Natsuo...!"

Meimei exited the classroom with bruises and bumps all over. She was supported by her new teammate, Karu Hugiteru, who was grumbling the whole time. His dark eyes were even darker with annoyance as he scolded Meimei.

"Stupid. You know how sensei gets when his students are late. What the hell were you doing anyways, primping your hair?" Meimei snapped, glaring at Karu with her amethyst eyes. Her mouth twisted into a scowl. She twisted away, grabbing the collar of his white sleeveless shirt. "What the hell's wrong with you?!" She shouted, growling. "I already got a beating from sensei, no need to give me another one!" she added, referring to the scold she got in front of the class. Karu twitched and lowered his head, making his brown bangs fall over his eyes. He glared at the young kuniochi through his hair. "So now it's my fault?" He asked dangerously, cracking his knuckles. Meimei gulped and released him, however, not before giving him a small shove. "Fine!" She walked to Takeshi Hararu, a quiet boy with light brown hair that covered his right eye completely.

"Come on Takeshi, let's leave this sulking beast alone." Meimei huffed, lifting her chin up. Takeshi followed her, having no other option. When Karu shot him a death glare, Takeshi pretended to fix his collared faded shirt, then patted his brown pants. He wished nothing to do with Karu's wrath.

They were told to wait in the back, where they used to have aiming practice. Karu leaned against a target pole, while Meimei sat on a branch, swinging her legs. Takeshi sat cross-legged in the middle, silent as always. They waited a while, then a poof of smoke came, signaling the arrival of their sensei.

Karu was surprised to see, instead of the typical ninja master, a young spunky woman with pink and purple highlights in her black hair. It was held in a bun by silver chopsticks, which might as well have been weapons. _Who the hell? _He though, trying to hide his disappointment.

Takeshi peeked at his sensei through his bang, his honey brown eyes saying nothing. _She's...odd,_ he thought, having no other comment about this punk styled woman. Her vest was unzipped, and she wore a tight-fitting long sleeved black shirt underneath. Her dark pants were long, almost covering her heel.

Meimei stared at her with a surprised face. _She...is...so...cool!_ Meimei jumped down to the base of the tree. Their sensei smiled.

"Yo! You can call me Ayame, Sensei, or a mix of both." She laughed, then stopped as she observed he students. "What's this? Why are you all scattered? And you, the sulky one, come over here and introduce yourself!" She barked, looking at Karu. Karu growled, not happy about being called "sulky". Meimei giggled.

"I'm Karu." He stated simply, wanting no conversations from this teacher anymore. He already took a dislike to her. And Meimei. _Takeshi's the only partner I need. Who needs those two weirdos anyways? _Their sensei chuckled, then whacked him on the back of his head hard, a silly school-girl grin on her face.

"Isn't it adorable how he doesn't let his elders speak? He's disrespectful and sulky!" She laughed heartily, getting Meimei and Takeshi to laugh too. Karu growled, shooting everyone a glare. The laughed died down.

"Now, properly, we can introduce ourselves. State your name and one other interesting fact about yourself. You may also include any hobbies, likes, dislikes, all that stuff. I'll start." Sensei took a breath, then said, "You can call me Ayame the Great!" Ayame laughed at the surprised faces of the Genins. "Nah, you can just call me Ayame." She racked her brain for something interesting. "Oh. I've seen what the insides of a person's stomach is like." She chuckled at the pale faces of her students. "Alright, Sulker is next," she said, referring to Karu. Karu growled.

"Like I said, my name is Karu Hugiteru," he said, emphasizing on his first name. "I don't have anything interesting about me, and as for my hobbies, they're confidential." Meimei blinked, then laughed. "Ha ha ha, you're hilarious." She broke off abruptly when she sensed the murderous waves Karu was directing at her. Meimei gulped.

"Alright then. What about you?" She asked, nodding towards Takeshi.

"...keshi...ru." He muttered.

"Eh?" Ayame leaned forward, putting a hand behind her ear. "Eh?"

"Takeshi Hararu." He said, just a bit louder. Ayame sighed.

"Well I suppose you won't be telling us anything else, eh? Well then, that leaves you." She nodded at Meimei.

"I'm Meimei, Meimei Natsuro. Um...my real name, the name my mother gave to me but changed it later, was Meiyori." Ayame raised an eyebrow. _Natsuro, huh?_ She thought, darkness passing over her eyes. They lighted again as she grinned at her students.

"Very well. I'm sure you'll all get along just fine!" Ayame said in a singsong voice, chuckling at Karu's glare and Meimei's tongue sticking out at him. Then her eyes passed over to Takeshi, who gazed on quietly. _Yeah...they'll get along just fine..._


	2. Ride Into the Rain

_Ah, yes. It's me again. Been a while, isn't it? This chapter's a tad short, I apologize. The next one will be longer. I promise. Meanwhile, move on the the next chapter! I'd like it very much if you review! Thank you!_

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANY CHARACTERS OR PLACES THAT BELONGD TO MASASHI KISHIMOTO, EXCEPT FOR MY OWN CHARACTERS. **

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It was three weeks after graduation did Team 13 get a "real" mission. For three weeks straight, they were faced with endless tasks of cat rescue missions. Who knew Konoha had so many cats?

Karu was laying along a riverbank when Meimei and Takeshi approached him. "Hey Sulker," Meimei said, standing by his head. Her hands were crossed, and she was annoyed.

"What?" Karu growled, getting annoyed himself. After all, it was a rare afternoon in which they didn't have a stupid mission. "Ayame-sensei said to meet her at the Hokage Tower right away." Meimei replied, narrowing her eyes. Then her eyes brightened, and she knelt down closer to Karu. "I think we're gonna get a C-ranked mission today!" She cried excitedly. Meimei laughed. "I'm kinda sick of hunting for cats, don't 'cha agree?"Karu grunted, and got up. "Then let's go."

Meimei stood up, watching Karu's back with a worried frown. "Hm...I wonder what's with him?" She asked Takeshi, sighing. Takeshi shrugged. "Must be tired of cats," he muttered, starting after Karu. Meimei sighed again, then ran after the boys.

Soon they were standing before Sarutobi, nodding to the details of the mission.

"The man you will be escorting is Kazuma Eichen, and he is a villager from the mountains of Amakagure. He's a merchant, and after spending a few months in Konoha, he decided to return home. But, from the clues in his wife's letters, he found that his village had been raided by the Amakagure government." Meimei frowned.

"So he wants us to take him back home, past the raiders?" She asked, confused. Sarutobi chuckled.

"Yes, that's right. Normally, we would send Chunins on this mission, but they're all out on other missions. So, since you guys are the second best," Sarutobi praised, getting a few chuckles from the team, "you are to complete this mission." The Hokage closed his book, and looked at the door behind Team 13.

"You can come in now." The door slammed open, nearly knocking Karu off his feet. Meimei was quick, and steadied her teammate. She glared at the visitor from the corner of her eyes.

The man who burst in looked mostly in his thirties, with dark hair and eyes. There was a scowl on his face, but there were lines of worry around his eyes. "Great, can we go right away?" He asked, his voice full of worry.

_Yup,_ Meimei thought, her anger disappearing from her eyes, Definitely_ a caring husband._"Well, uh, we'll leave as soon as we get our stuff I guess," Ayame said, scratching the back of her head. The man froze, as if suddenly acknowledging the ninjas next to him. "Oh. Pardon me, I'm just very worried right now. Uh, please, take your time..." His voice trailed off, bowing slightly. Ayame let out a friendly chuckle, and pat the man on the back. "No need to be worried. We won't be long."

Ayame was right, and indeed, Team 13 met at the gates in ten minutes. Kazuma sighed with relief when the three ninjas bounded for the gates, on their back their equipment to take with them for the mountain climb. "W-well, can we go now?" Kazuma asked, rubbing his hands together. Ayame chuckled. "Why not?"

Half an hour later, they were crossing the border into Amakagure.

"Hey hey, you see that mountain?" Kazuma asked once they were in Amakagure, pointing at one of the mountains in the distance. "That's where I live. Oh, I hope my family's ok. Can we hurry?" The five of them picked up their pace, and was soon hiking up the winding mountain path.

It wasn't easy. The paths were twisted, and often wound with other paths that led to nowhere, or the edge of a cliff. Kazuma apologized halfway there. "I'm sorry. There were once hidden signs in the paths so that other people can't intrude our er, village, but it seems the ninjas have found them." Karu scratched his head. "But surely you remember the way?" Kazuma laughed. "I'm not as young as you look. My memory's not as good as it wa--"

He was stopped short with the crack of thunder. "Crap." The rain started to fall.

"Oh no, it looks like a big one," Kazuma muttered worriedly, "there's usually mudslides on the trails. The village is protected, but..." He wrung his hands together nervously. "Well, if we are to hurry, we gotta go, _now_." Ayame said, pointing up the road.

The five of them quickened the pace, climbing over slippery rocks, ducking under drooping tree branches. But the rain grew heavier, the roads more slippery. Kazuma could not keep up.

"C-can we stop for a m-minute?" He gasped, wiping water out of his eyes. Team 13 exchanged looks. "Sure," Ayame said, smiling slightly. "We can't go on in this rain anyways." After a few more minutes of looking, they found a cramped cave a few dozen feet down.

"Hey Kazuma-san?" Meimei asked, wrenching the water from her hair, not able to do anything about her clothes. "Uh, yes?" "Are the shinobi raiding your village still up there, or have they made their way down?" Kazuma shrugged. "Perhaps." Meimei sniffed. "Then we must go as soon as possible. Trashing around in that mud bound to have left clues about us."

Indeed, Meimei was right. Outside the are of the cave, a man with ash colored hair hid in the thick trees. An umbrella was strapped to his back, and a Rain hitai-ate dangled from his left arm. He let out a small chuckle.

"Konoha ninjas, eh? Piece of cake," he whispered in a raspy voice.


End file.
